1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a device for supplying air or medical gases in a conditioned, particularly a moistened and/or heated state, to a patient through an air pipe.
2. Discussion of the Prior Art
Such devices are known and are generally comprised of a water tank which insures a water supply to a generally cylinder-shaped chamber to which a supply line for an air/oxygen mixture and a discharge line for the heated and moistened mixture are connected. Depending on the local circumstances and requirements, the length of the discharge line, that is the line to the patient, may not always be determined beforehand.
Whatever may be the care wherewith the electric resistors insure heating the moistened air mixture, the temperature inside the discharge line will unavoidably get lower as the discharge line becomes longer. The temperature of the moistened air or gas mixture which leaves said chamber will never correspond to the temperature of a mixture which is fed to the patient. In spite of safety thermostats being present, the temperature will vary within limits which are not always allowable.
The discharge line or air pipe from the chamber to the patient may not always be designed as a sterile unit. For instance, French Patent 7,442,206 discloses a device which is only interchangeable when replacing the conveying tube and the resistance-heater wire, as well as the thermometer and the moisture sensor. Such a device may thus hardly be thought of as "disposable" and does not fulfill elementary sanitary criteria.